THE lavish Brisbane mansion built by disgraced Australian businessman Christopher Skase has sold in a secret deal to a local hotelier for $10.138 million.
Star Hotel Group boss Steven Shoobridge bagged the luxurious Great Gatsby-style estate for a bargain given Skase built the home in 1988 at a reported cost of $35 million, with a further $5 million spent on extensive renovations in 1997.
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The cashed-up hotelier and Harvard Business School graduate sold his Brisbane riverfront penthouse to former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein in late 2016 for $8 million. But the Hamilton Hill property is far more palatial — boasting nine bedrooms, nine bathrooms and spreading over an impressive nine titles.
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Vendor Dr Soo Hian Beh bought the property, known as ‘Bromley’, at 36 Dickson Tce, Hamilton in 2001 for $6.5 million.
Dr Beh’s estranged husband, the Malaysian Chinese industrialist Sir Yii Ann Hii, is being pursued by the Australian Taxation Office over a $64 million tax bill.
The home was sold in an off-market deal which settled in February, according to data from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
The property had been on the market with multiple agents since late 2016 and most recently advertised for rent on realestate.com.au for $12,800 a week.
Listing agents had expected it to fetch as much as $25 million, with Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty agent Stephen Weber labelling it “the most elite residence on the market in Queensland”.
“It represents an extraordinary era in Australian history; a decadent period in Queensland’s past,” Mr Weber said at the time of listing.
Its list of features includes bulletproof glass, a circular staircase, an internal bell tower, an eight-person lift and a fence made from one metre thick concrete and reinforced steel.
The estate includes a large pool, cabana, floodlit tennis court, ponds, fountains, waterways, terraces and raised gardens.
There is even a self-contained housekeeper’s quarters, children’s wing, glass conservatory with views to Brisbane city, a gymnasium, wine cellar with tasting room, a 15-seat home theatre, private office with a bar and garaging for eight cars.
Originally published as The house that Skase built sells for over $10m to Brisbane hotelier
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